OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Rhea Taylor (Buford, Ga.) jump started the scoring and Stacy May-Johnson (Reno, Nev.) provided the fireworks on both sides of the ball as the USA Softball Women’s National Team downed the Czech Republic 7-2 to open the World Cup of Softball VI Thursday evening at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City. 

“I’m glad the first one's over,” said head coach Ken Eriksen (Tampa, Fla.). “Now was the time to get the butterflies out, being at home on national TV for the first time, being in front of your home crowd for the first time. We’re doing things we need to do coming off a tournament, finding your energy from Wednesday to Monday. We might not have been at the greatest peak. It’s time to go home tonight, relax a little bit and come out with a lot of energy tomorrow because we’ve got a good one.” 

Whitney Canion (Aledo, Texas) picked up the win, allowing two earned runs in 5.0 innings pitch. Canion was perfect through three innings before allowing the Czechs to score both runs in the fourth. She held them to just three hits and struck out five. Chelsea Thomas (Pleasantville, Iowa) earned the save, throwing 2.0 hitless innings with four strikeouts. 

The United States got the aid of a Czech Republic miscue in the second as Megan Langenfeld (Bakersfield, Calif.) reached first and advanced to second on a drop fly ball. Taylor Hoagland (Flower Mound, Texas) reached on a two-out walk and the pair came around to score on Taylor’s triple to right field. Taylor then scored on an infield single by Lauren Grieve (Asheville, N.C.) to push Team USA in front 3-0. 

Katie Cochran (Yorba Linda, Calif.) bunt singled to lead off the third and Valerie Arioto (Pleasanton, Calif.) drew a walk before the Czechs made a pitching change. Jenae Leles (Sacramento, Calif.) singled to left to score Cochran from second and later came home to score on an error to push Team USA in front 5-0. 

The Czech Republic scored its two runs in the top of the fourth. Using the short game, the Czechs got back-to-back singles from Lucie Petraskova and Dina Pfeiferova for the team’s first hits of the game. The two then advanced 60 feet on a wild pitch and Petraskova scored on a groundout before Pfeiferova scored on a sacrifice bunt to cut the Team USA lead to 5-2. 

After coming up with several defensive web gems in the game, May-Johnson, playing at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium for the first time, added to her stellar performance with a solo home run in the fourth. 

“It was really cool,” she said. “I got a pitch up in the zone and got underneath it just enough to get it out of here. It was pretty cool to experience that here on this field for the first time, my first game on this field. It was a pretty neat experience.” 

The Czechs threatened again the sixth after Petraskova reached on a passed ball and an infield single from Pfeiferova put the team in almost the same situation as the fourth. After Thomas came in to relieve Canion, the Czech Republic grounded into a double play and struck out looking to end the frame. 

Team USA added another run in the bottom of the sixth. Hoagland led off with a bunt single back to the circle and reached second safely after a throwing error. She was then called out at third after trying to extend the throwing error. While Hoagland reached second on the error, Taylor made it to first on the same play thanks to the fielder’s choice. She ended up scoring the final Team USA run after an infield single from Grieve that gave the USA its final win margin of 7-2. 

May-Johnson led the way at the plate, going 3-for-4. Taylor went 1-for-3 with two runs scored and the two driven in during the second. Grieve and Cochran also added two hits each as Team USA combined for 11 on the night. 

The Red, White and Blue will return to World Cup action on Friday evening with a match up against Australia at 7 p.m. CT. The game will be aired live on ESPN and webcast at http://www.espn3.com. For more information visit www.usasoftball.com. 

Other action at the World Cup of Softball VI: 

Australia 11, Czech Republic 0 (5)

The Czech Republic made its ever appearance in the World Cup of Softball, suffering a 11-0 defeat to Australia. The Czech had three hits to Australia’s 15 with five of those being doubles. Australian pitcher Justine Smethurst earned the win working 2.1 innings with four strikeouts. 

Australia scored third in the first and third in the second to take an early 6-0 lead. Stacey Porter singled up the middle for an RBI and went on to score the second run of the game off a single by Chelsea Forkin. A double by Brenda DeBlaes scored the final run of the game plating Forkin. Two doubles in the second by Clare Warwick and DeBlaes plated two more runs in the second with the other run coming off a ground out by Jodie Bowering. 

Australia took advantage of an error in the third to score a run and would go on to score four more in the fifth to have the game called due to the run-ahead rule. The Aussie offense combined for five hits including two doubles off the bats of Belinda White and Bowering. DeBlaes led the team going 4-for-4 with three RBI and one run scored. 

Japan 9, Canada 6 (8)

The matchup between the 2010 International Softball Federation (ISF) Women’s World Championship Silver Medalist Japan and Bronze Medalist Canada provided the first extra inning game of the World Cup. With a three-run eighth inning, Japan defeated Canada 9-6. 

With Kaleigh Rafter’s RBI double to right center and Lye’s RBI single down the right field line in the first, Canada took an early 2-0 lead on Japan. Japan answered with a Yukiyo Mine RBI single in the second then took the 4-2 lead with a three run third inning. Following a Yu Yamamoto single, left fielder Melanie Matthews committed an error that allowed Misa Okubo, Maki Furuta and Yamamoto to score. Okubo singled up the middle to reach base while Furuta doubled down the right field line. 

Japan scored another run on a passed ball to take a 5-2 lead in the fourth. But Canada mounted a comeback in the bottom of the inning with a Jill Russell two run double to left field. Russell’s double scored Meagan Baird, who led off the inning with a single, and Lye, who walked. Victoria Hayward tied the game at 5-5 with an RBI single. Japan and Canada went scoreless the fifth and sixth but both teams scored a run in the seventh. 

With runner Mika Suzuki starting on second base due to the international tie-breaker rule, Japan’s Haruka Kageyama sacrificed the runner to third with a bunt. Eri Yamada knocked a two run home run over the right center field wall. Following a Furuta single up, Japan took a 9-6 lead in the eighth. Canada was held scoreless despite having the bases loaded. 

Australia 7, Great Britain 1

Great Britain made its first appearance in the World Cup since 2006 with a 7-1 loss to 2008 Olympic Bronze Medalist Australia. With the win, Australia improved to 2-0 in the tournament. 

In the second, Great Britain took the 1-0 lead with a Karlene Headley-Cooper double to left field that scored Sarah Jones, who reached base with a single then advanced to second on a passed ball. Australia answered in the third with a Clare Warwick single down the left field line that scored Stacey McManus. The Aussies put up another run to make it 2-1 with a Jodie Bowering singled to score Warwick, who had advanced to second on a passed ball. 

Australia added a run in the fifth when a Forkin double to left center scored Warick, who reached base with a single to shortstop. Warwick finished the game as one of Australia’s top performers, going 3-for-3 with three run scored and two RBI, one of which came as the Aussies scored four runs in the sixth. 

-Courtesy of ASA/USA Softball